SOUNDTRACK: UMM KULTHUM (أم كلثوم)-“It is Too Late” (Fit al-ma’ ad) (1967).
I picked this song because it is mentioned in the story.
I don’t really understand the song and I didn’t really understand the story, so I guess it all fits.
Umm Kulthum was an Egyptian singer, songwriter, and film actress active from the 1920s to the 1970s. She was given the honorific title Kawkab al-Sharq (كوكب الشرق, “Star of the East”).
The version of the song that I found is 27 minutes long with three sections. I can’t find anything useful in the way of translation (even of the title) which means “It’s too late” or “The rendez-vous is over.”
There are several parts to this song, although it is so traditional it is hard for me to determine them. I also have a hard time understanding why her voice is so remarkable as she doesn’t really “do” very much. She seems to have a limited range although with a lot of stamina.
Perhaps there is a different standard of excellence in Egyptian music. Although I do understand how in the story she hears the song in the cab and calls him and he seems to take a Panadol then lays down and relaxes before turning on the radio and the song is still on.
[READ: June 1, 2019] “The Tortoise and the Hedgehog”
This is an excerpt from Sweileh’s novel Remorse Test.
It was translated from the Arabic by Jonathan Wright. The original won an award for literature in 2017.
I include this last part because I found this story really hard to follow and even harder to enjoy.
It is written from the narrator to “you” and wonders what “remorse” is.
They had first “met” through a phone call five years earlier. Then they began writing online–writing in cyberspace gives us a dose of courage that face to face does not.
After reading some of her poems he encouraged her to be more expressive.
He began testing the boundaries of their relationship by speaking sensually. He was tired of wandering around in spirituality with her. He stated “The smell of you invades my isolation” She tried to repress this by responding to it with only an emoji.
She wrote “Do you prefer my hair or my poetry?” It took him a while to think of the right response which was: “Your poetry needs the madness of your gypsy hair.”
He told her that as a butterfly, she should try nectar from all kinds of flowers and that poetry means the imagination run wild.
She called from the taxi to say she was listening to Um Kulthum sing “It’s Too Late” When he tuned in she was still singing “What use are you, remorse, Oh remorse, remorse.”
Later that night she sent him lines of Giuseppe Ungaretti’s poetry. Was it a form of seduction? He read into all the lines.
From then on she sent him her writing almost daily and he read them for insight into her feelings about him. Her writing became more sensual.
He encouraged her, “writing about love needs fangs too.” She disapproved of the word fangs is she was a butterfly.
He realized the depth of the chasm between them.
It’s probably because this was an excerpt that I didn’t really enjoy it. Nothing seemed to happen and I couldn’t tell if things were going anywhere–or where the remorse might come in.
It does not make me want to read the novel.
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